updated 07:00 pm EST, Mon December 19, 2011

Site moving away from social networking

Myspace has finally launched its redesigned site, which focuses on music discovery and playback. The improved media integration marks a dramatic strategy shift that was first announced several months ago by the site's new owner, Specific Media, in an attempt to rebrand the service as the "Hulu of music" rather than maintaining direct competition with Facebook as an alternative social network.

The revamped media player provides access to content from variety of genres, including popular artists and 'debut' tracks from new artists. Users are said to be able to play more than 42 million songs, including 30 million tracks from independent artists, according to a Billboardreport.

"Music is white-hot right now and we want to be able to capitalize on our music catalog and our history in music," CEO Tim Vanderhook told Billboard. "It's something the previous management didn't really highlight."

Aside from the new player, users will also be able to take advantage of Facebook integration. The feature is viewed as confirmation of the new owner's' strategy.

The company expects to bring even more changes sometime in the first half of 2012.